Privacy Policy

This policy explains how Hamilton Neurofeedback & Psychotherapy (“we”, “us”), operated by Nigel Barnim, Registered Psychotherapist (Qualifying), collects, uses and protects personal information. It covers visitors to hamiltonneurofeedback.com, people who contact us, and clients.

Two kinds of information

• Website and contact information: what you send us through this website, by email or by phone before you become a client (name, email, phone number, message), plus visit statistics.
• Personal health information: intake forms, session notes, progress tracking and billing records for clients. This is never collected through website forms. It is handled under Ontario’s Personal Health Information Protection Act, 2004 (PHIPA) and the College of Registered Psychotherapists of Ontario’s record-keeping standards, with Nigel Barnim as the health information custodian.

Please do not include health details in website forms or emails. If you want to discuss your health, book a free consultation or call us.

What we collect on this website

• Forms you fill in (contact, newsletter sign-up, speaking inquiries, unsubscribe): your name, email, phone number and message.
• Bookings made through TidyCal: your name, email, phone number, the time you book, and your answer to “How did you hear about us?”.
• Visit statistics: pages viewed, the site or ad that sent you, approximate location (city level), device and browser type, and whether you clicked to book, call, email or play a video. These are collected with cookies or similar technology.

How we use it

• To reply to you and schedule consultations and sessions.
• To provide, document and bill for services, if you become a client.
• To send the newsletter, only if you signed up. Every newsletter has an unsubscribe link, or use our unsubscribe page.
• To understand which pages and ads bring people to the site, so we can improve it.

We do not sell personal information. Personal health information is never used for marketing.

Consent

By contacting us or booking, you consent to us using your contact information to respond. Clients give informed consent to services and to how their health information is collected, used and shared before their first session. You can withdraw consent at any time, though this may limit the services we can provide. We share personal health information outside our care only with your consent or where the law requires or permits it (for example, to prevent serious harm, or as required by our regulatory College).

Children and teens

We offer neurofeedback to children and teens. For clients who are not able to make their own privacy decisions, a parent or legal guardian acts on their behalf, as Ontario law allows.

Services that handle this information

• Web3Forms delivers website form messages to our email inbox (Gmail).
• TidyCal handles online booking.
• Google Tag Manager, Google Analytics 4 and Google Ads count visits, sources and bookings. Advertising personalization is turned off in our Google Analytics settings.
• Cloudflare hosts the website and provides Cloudflare Web Analytics, which counts visits without cookies.
• YouTube videos load only when you press play. YouTube’s own privacy policy then applies.

These companies may store and process information outside Canada, including in the United States, where it may be accessible to authorities under local law.

How we protect it

Client records are kept in password-protected electronic record systems with access limited to the people who need it to provide your care. Website forms are sent over encrypted (HTTPS) connections. If personal health information is lost, stolen or accessed without authorization, we will notify you and report it as PHIPA requires.

How long we keep it

• Client records: at least 10 years after the last contact, or 10 years after a client’s 18th birthday if they were a minor, whichever is later, as our College requires.
• Emails and form messages from people who do not become clients: as long as needed to respond and for our records.
• Visit statistics: for the period set in our Google Analytics account, no longer than 14 months.

Cookies

Google Analytics and Google Ads set cookies to count visits and bookings. You can block or delete cookies in your browser settings, or use Google’s opt-out add-on for Google Analytics. The site still works without them.

Your rights

You can ask to see or correct the personal information we hold about you, ask us to delete information that we are not required to keep, or withdraw consent, by emailing [email protected]. We respond within 30 days. If you have a concern we cannot resolve, you can contact the Information and Privacy Commissioner of Ontario (health information) or the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada.

Contact

Privacy contact: Nigel Barnim, [email protected], 905-746-9432.

Changes

We will post any changes on this page and update the date above. Active clients will be told about significant changes.